Epic Talco battle gifts Herbies $100m in fees

Herbert Smith has racked up $100m (£51m) in fees for work representing the Republic of Tajikistan in an ongoing legal battle with a group of aluminium traders.

Costs disclosed in the High Court last month (April) in front of Mr Justice Tomlinson reveal the firm is set to bill approximately $100m on the case, which sees it advising Tajik Aluminium Company (Talco) as it seeks damages of more than $485m (£244m).

The firm was instructed in January 2005 and the fees account for four years' work, including a 14-week trial scheduled to take place in the High Court in October this year.

At its height, five partners have been involved in the case, including lead partner Simon Bushell, Gary Milner-Moore and Stuart Paterson, as well as 20 fee earners.

The costs also include fees for Herbert Smith's in-house advocate Murray Rosen QC (pictured right) and three counsel including One Essex Court's Neil Kitchener QC.

Talco - which is owned by the Republic of Tajikistan and was previously known as TadAZ - has made fraud claims against nine former trading partners now based in the UK. The dispute has also involved other proceedings in the British Virgin Islands.

The defendants, which include individuals as well as companies such as Ansol, are being represented by a number of firms including Clyde & Co, Byrne and Partners and Magrath.

In the April disclosure session, Clydes, Byrne and Magrath revealed that their combined costs since instruction come to an estimated $54m (£27m).

Herbert Smith's Bushell told Legal Week: "This has been a massive case which is likely to last for four years [overall]. All of the parties' lawyers are conscious of the high fees involved and are committed publicly to exploring solutions to bring this long-running dispute to an end, if possible."

Last month Allen & Overy was criticised by a High Court judge who deemed that the firm had generated excessive costs in a five-day trial over BlackBerry patents. The firm notched up fees totalling £5.18m representing Research in Motion in its dispute with US technology company Visto.

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